Bad Reputation - Shawn Mendes

36 - Merry Chirstmas Pt. 1

Shawn.

"Merry Christmas babe!" Elle exclaims as soon as my eyes flutter open. "Merry Christmas to you, honey." I smile and kiss her forehead softly. We both lay down, enjoying each other's company in silence. I really want to talk to her about what i saw last night with her and Jacob on the front porch but honestly I'm not sure how to bring it up and i don't want to ruin the moment. "I need to tell you something." She sighs and i bring her closer to my chest to comfort her. I take in a deep breathe and prepare for what she's about to say.

"My dad lost his second job and now we might not be able to afford my college tuition." She tells me and my eyes widen. That was not what i was expecting to hear. "How is he?" I cough, one thing i know about Adam is that he cares a lot for Elle and wants the best for her so he must be taking this pretty hard. "I can tell he's frustrated over the situation." She answers. "Is there any way i can help?" I ask, rubbing her shoulders up and down. "Just be here while I figure things out." She says and i nod.

We both keep quiet for a few seconds before i decide to start the dreadful conversation. "Last night, I saw you and Jacob on the front porch." I admit. "Oh." She responds, pursing her lips into a line. "What were you guys talking about?" I ask. As much as i didn't want to talk about it, i know that if we don't, it'll haunt me forever. "I couldn't sleep after everything so i went out to the front porch to get some fresh air. Jacob saw me from across the street and came over. He apologised to me about what happened in high school and explained to me his side of the story but I wasn't in the mood to listen. I already had so much on my mind and hearing about the past didn't help." Elle describes last night events and everything starts piecing together in my head. I knew i shouldn't have made assumptions on what had happened between them, and just talked with Elle first and I'm so glad i did just that.

"I see. Do you think you'll ever forgive him?" I probe. "Honestly, I'm not sure. It hurts even more knowing that he knew it was a lie but didn't try to stand up for me, ya know?" She replies. "Mhm, but whatever you decide to do, i just want to let you know I'll always support you and be here for you." I smile and give her a small squeeze. "How did i get so lucky?" She asks herself out loud. "I'm even luckier." I chuckle and she gives me a 'are you serious face'. "You have impacted my life positively in many ways, you just don't know it." I add. "Is that so?" She asks, poking at my chest. "Yes." I nod and she laughs.

"Well then, lucky boy, shall we go have a good fucking Christmas?" She removes herself from my embrace. "Are we going to get condoms?" I tease. "Hell yes!" She exclaims as she ties her hair into her bun. We both get out of bed and head to the bathroom to wash up before going downstairs for breakfast. Our hands intertwined as we walk down the stairs to see her dad sitting on the sofa, drinking his coffee and using his phone. "Merry Christmas Dad!" She shouts and he turns to face us. "Merry Christmas pumpkin! Didn't realise you'd be here, Shawn." He smiles and hugs both of us. "Yeah I came over last night to spend time with Elle." I tell him. "I see." He nods, staring at me intensely with sipping on his coffee. Did he hear us almost having sex? "Have you eaten?" She asks and i thank the lord for the change in topic. "Yeah, i made some pancakes, you guys can help yourselves." He points at the kitchen. "Thank you so much and Merry Christmas Adam." I smile. "You too Shawn." He grins before going back on his phone.

Elle and I walk to the kitchen and she gets out two plates which we start pilling up food with. We ate rather quickly and without talking much. "Do you want to open your present?" Elle asks as i wash the plates for us. "Sure, if that's okay with you?" I turn to face her and she's nodding excitedly. After i was done with the plates, we went back to the living room and sat down on the sofa beside her dad. "Let's open the presents!" She squeals and clap her hands together. It's really cute seeing how excited Eleanor is about Christmas. "Earth to Shawn!" She calls me and I'm out of my thoughts. "Sorry, yes let's open the presents." I smile and nod.

"Here's yours dad." She says as she takes the small blue present from under their mini tree and pass to him. "Thank you pumpkin." He grins and immediately starts unwrapping the present. "Wow Elle, I love it!" Her dad exclaims at the keychain she made with a picture of them eating ice cream. "I knew you would! Now you can carry me everywhere even though I'm not here." She says proudly. Her dad slips the keychain into his pocket and grabs the paper bag from under tree. "This one's for you." He announces and passes the bag to Elle. Elle thanks her dad before taking out the shoebox that was inside. She opens up the box to find a pair of white converse, a pair that she's always wanted. Her eyes widen in awe and immediately jump up to hug her dad.

They pull away after a few seconds and she looks at me with a smile. She walks backwards and hit the the Christmas, causing one of the ornaments to drop. "Shit." She mutters under her breath and bends down to pick the ornament up before placing it back to where it belonged. I took a quick photo of her with the Christmas tree without her noticing. Elle picks up a present wrapped in Christmas paper and passes it to me with the hugest smile. I take the present from her and give her a quick kiss on the cheek. I was truly lucky to have her, even if she didn't think so.

Author's Note!

There will be two parts to this Christmas special so yay. Sorry this chapter was kind of long overdue but i hope you guys liked it nonetheless. I've been really busy with school work even though it's only the second week so I'll try to upload as much as i can but please bare with me! And also thank you for 500 reads, i wish i could hug each and every one of you.